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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28026732">Stay with me</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwistedSenpai/pseuds/TwistedSenpai'>TwistedSenpai</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Soul Eater</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Blood and Injury, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, M/M, Self-Harm</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 22:47:09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,187</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28026732</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwistedSenpai/pseuds/TwistedSenpai</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>As a weapon and Meister duo they were perfect, an unstoppable force of nature, everything was just as it should be. </p><p>He had dared to believe he could keep him; their partnership had been untouchable for so long - until that girl had been transferred to their class. A poisonous snake, with blonde hair and green eyes, how easily she had polluted his Spirit</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Spirit Albarn | Death Scythe &amp; Franken Stein, Spirit Albarn | Death Scythe/Franken Stein</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>43</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Stay with me</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Stein had been left in the care of Lord Death as a small boy; after years of failed psych evaluations his parents had given up. In a way, he was grateful to them; their abandonment had allowed him to create a disconnect in his mind, an internal barrier that protected him from the surrounding world. </p><p>The young scientist had little care for sleep, preferring to devote his energy to experimentation and exploration. He often worked into the late hours in his laboratory, a welcomed respite from his trivial reality.  </p><p>He was accustomed to solitude; his peers were nothing more than potential research material – that was until the day he had been assigned that damn partner. An arrogant boy, two years his senior with flaming red hair and a ridiculous fascination with the opposite sex. </p><p>Spirit had been his partner for four years now, the only student crazy or idiotic enough to tolerate him for all these years.  Stein had let his walls down far enough to be vulnerable with him, his world consisted of him and Spirit, everyone else was inconsequential. Their souls flowed in perfect synchronicity, their skill and teamwork unmatched by any of their classmates.  </p><p>As a weapon and Meister duo they were perfect, an unstoppable force of nature, everything was just as it should be.    </p><p>He had dared to believe he could keep him; their partnership had been untouchable for so long - until that girl had been transferred to their class. A poisonous snake, with blonde hair and green eyes, how easily she had polluted his Spirit.  </p><p>Who did this girl think that she was, to come into his world and take away the only person that mattered? Spirit was his, he belonged to him, what right did she have? </p><p>Spirit was drifting away, their soul resonation was growing weaker as Stein’s world began to grow irrevocably smaller. </p><p>His mind twisted into unwelcomed visions of their bodies entwining, Spirit’s lips on hers, the smile in his eyes that was reserved only for her. The smile that he could never have. </p><p>The 16-year-old was no stranger to pain and tonight, he needed it more than he needed the air in his lungs. He needed to dissect, to carve, to extract the poison, his scientific mind had been contaminated. He needed to purify his thoughts, to rid himself of these feelings, they served him no purpose. </p><p>He told himself that this was just another experiment, to free his mind from the images that tormented him; their bodies embracing, shallow breathing, passionate cries, naked flesh. </p><p>It was maddening, he felt his heart quickening with an uncontrollable rage that threatened to swallow him whole. </p><p>He dragged the scalpel across his flesh, the red began to trickle, a vibrant shade of crimson against his pale white skin.  </p><p>It’s not enough. </p><p>He could still see them, Spirit’s warm hands caressing her, calling her name, devouring her. </p><p>He gripped the scalpel again, this time not stopping until he felt the scrape of bone.  </p><p>The pain was blindingly, searingly hot. </p><p>He couldn’t see anything now; consumed by pain as the blood trickled freely from his flesh, dripping onto the cold linoleum floor like silent raindrops. </p><p>He felt his eyes getting heavy as he struggled to hold himself upright, this experiment had gone farther than intended. If he could just find the strength to perform soul sutures, he could stop the bleeding. He tried to centre himself, to find the inner balance he required but it was futile, he was succumbing to the pull of the emptiness. </p><p>- </p><p>“Stein, I’m home” Spirit called out through the eerily quiet halls of their shared home. </p><p>He'd normally have seen his partner pottering at his desk at this hour, but his office was abandoned, diagrams and scattered notes covering the floor.  </p><p>Spirit shrugged off his denim jacket, throwing it lazily onto the couch, deciding he would look for his partner elsewhere. </p><p>“Stein, where are you?” He knocked on his bedroom door before discovering his bed, seemingly untouched. </p><p>An uncomfortable dread started to weigh down on his chest; it was unlike Stein to be so quiet. </p><p>He knew he would have to look in his least favourite part of the house; that damn laboratory where he had discovered Stein dissecting animals more times that he cared to count. </p><p>He turned down the narrow corridor, a slither of light illuminated his footsteps in the darkness, pouring out from the old steel door which had been left ajar. </p><p>“Ste-Stein?” </p><p>He took a deep breath, preparing himself for whatever horrors were behind that door; he reluctantly pushed it further open and in the same moment, he felt his heart stop.  </p><p>The small framed boy was lying unconscious on the floor; his wrists mangled, bathed in a pool of deep red. </p><p>“St-STEIN!” </p><p>He ran over to him, frantically turning him onto his back as he held two fingers to his neck checking for a pulse, it was faint but it was there.  </p><p>“Stein, wake up” He shook his partner’s shoulders helplessly. </p><p>Stein was limp, lifeless, that faint heartbeat getting further and further away. </p><p>“Please don’t leave me!” He held his ear close, listening out for the faintest sound of breathing, a subtle exhale or inhale – nothing. </p><p>Remembering the first aid training he had received in his first year at the academy, he parted the younger boy’s lips and started to breathe the air from his own lungs into him. He repeated the motion, again and again – nothing. </p><p>“Stay with me” </p><p>His eyes stung with the tears that would not fall, his Meister was gone. His best friend, his partner, his... everything. </p><p>The ground threatened to collapse beneath him, he held the boy in his arms, clutching him tightly against his chest. </p><p>“Please come back to me” He choked out the words, no longer able to hold back his tears. </p><p>His violent guttural sobs filled the emptiness of the room, they echoed and distorted as his words became desperate incoherent pleas. </p><p>He was drowning, each breath a pained gasp for air that would not come – his lungs burned, everything burned. </p><p>A small cough escaped the broken Meister’s lips “Senpai” </p><p>Spirit released his grip, falling backwards in shock, his heart felt like it was going to burst.  </p><p>“St-St-Stein! You’re alive!”  </p><p>“Barely” he rasped through jagged breaths. </p><p>“I’m going to need your help sewing this back up Senpai” </p><p>Spirit panicked, shaking his head frantically, backing away as his body trembled. </p><p>“Do you trust me?” Stein breathed the words, a hoarse whisper escaping his lips. </p><p>Spirit nodded weakly, his face stained with drying tears. </p><p>“Then give me your hand. We need to resonate, it’s the only way I’ll be strong enough to perform soul sutures”  </p><p>Spirit’s hands were shaking as he took a hold of his Meister’s. </p><p>“Don’t worry Spirit, you can do this” He smiled up at his weapon partner weakly.   </p><p>Spirit swallowed as he looked at the pale, bleeding boy beneath him – he was usually so strong it wasn’t right to see him like this.  </p><p>“Okay” He tried to gather more courage than he truly felt – he had to be strong now, for him. </p>
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